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Fort McMurray Fire Might Be Turning A Corner If Weather Keeps Improving

By Christina St Jean
Published on: 02:49 PST, May 9, 2016

The Fort McMurray fire now stands at around 621 square miles, or roughly a little larger than the land mass that Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, covers. It’s a little less than double the size of Kansas City, Missouri, and roughly three times the size than Boulder City, Nevada. Still, the growth of this monster inferno has surprisingly been slower than expected, largely thanks to cooler temperatures and, finally, a little bit of rain.

According to the Globe and Mail, Chad Morrison, Alberta’s senior wildfire manager, told the Canadian Press that the current weather conditions in Fort McMurray have made it a little more ideal to get a handle on the blaze.

“This is great firefighting weather. We can really get in there and really get a handle on this fire and really get a death grip on it,” he said.

Previous predictions, according to CBC News, had officials guessing that the Fort McMurray fire might have reached 772 square miles, or slightly bigger than Jacksonville, Florida, by Sunday. The cooler temperatures kept the fire from growing quite as large as that, but the threat posed to Alberta as a whole remains quite significant.

Currently, the Fort McMurray fire is about 22 miles from the Saskatchewan border.

It appears, though, that the Fort McMurray fire does not yet pose any imminent threat to Saskatchewan. Metro News reports that Steve Roberts, the executive director of wildfire management with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, said that Saskatchewan has implemented some sprinkler systems in the nearby area just in case the fire encroaches, but whether or not the Fort McMurray fire actually makes it that far depends on weather and wind patterns.

“We have the latitude to engage the fire on the Alberta side,” he said. “We do not have to wait (to fight the blaze) until it comes into Saskatchewan.”

No rain is expected in the immediate forecast for Fort McMurray, but temperatures are expected to hover in the mid-50s to low 60s and 70s for most of the week.

While it has been widely reported that there had been no casualties as the evacuation from the Fort McMurray fire proceeded, this tragically has not been the case. Two teens, 15-year-old Emily Ryan and her 19-year-old cousin Aaron Hodgson were killed as their SUV slammed head-on into a tractor-trailer, according to CBC News. There was speculation that Hodgson, who hailed from the Niagara, Ontario, region, was in Fort McMurray to lend his family a hand as they tried to escape the fire.

According to the National Post, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said while the Canadian Armed Forces has been tapped to help with some logistics, such as transportation and food drop offs, there is currently no expectation that the military would help with the firefight itself.

“It’s still too early to think that it would be safe to bring in that personnel now,” Goodale said. “This is a beast of a fire and it needs the most professional fighters to contend with it.”

Some evacuees have found alternative lodgings instead of staying in shelters, and Rob Brekke, Edmonton’s emergency support response coordinator, mentioned that the drop in numbers might be enough to allow personnel to have a brief rest themselves.

“We peaked and are starting to come down,” he said. “It’s nice for our staff. We might be able to rest and collect ourselves. That’s a very positive piece that they’re finding (lodging) elsewhere. They’re starting to become more self-sustaining.”

It would have certainly been a challenging Mother’s Day for those families who escaped the fire. An Edmonton salon, though, was one of many businesses who tried to make Mother’s Day extra special for those moms forced to flee their Fort McMurray homes.

Angela Slomba, owner of Boulevard Salon in neighboring Sherwood Park, about 10 miles from Edmonton, where many evacuees have fled to, decided to try and give moms from Fort McMurray a Mother’s Day they wouldn’t forget for positive reasons. According to Global News, the Mother’s Day makeovers for this particular group of moms was a huge success.

“One mom said it best: ‘It was just nice for an hour or two not to have to think about anything and just be pampered and that’s what we wanted.’ We didn’t want {them} to think about anything,” Slomba said.

Evacuees from Fort McMurray have fled to Edmonton, Lac La Biche, British Columbia, and as far away as Ontario. Countries as far away as Russia have offered their support in fighting the Fort McMurray fire.

[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]

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